


Z Is For Zugzwang

by girlintheglen



Series: The ABC Affair [26]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 22:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11541378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlintheglen/pseuds/girlintheglen





	Z Is For Zugzwang

“Zeus, Apollo... heel!” The commands were given to the obedient dogs who immediately complied. The two Dobermans were beautiful specimens of the breed; well behaved and menacing looking to those who were unaware of the gentle demeanors when not on duty.

Jonathan Quayle Higgins III stood in the doorway of his London home as he gave out the command that would remain with him for all of his life. Service to the Crown was his life’s work, first in the Queen's Own West Yorkshire Regiment during World War II, and now with MI6. The Doberman’s were his reward at the end of the day, their obedience an omen to life in the afterglow of a nation’s need for security and, as he knew now in this position, intelligence.

Higgins was expecting company this evening. Two agents from the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, UNCLE. It was a ridiculous acronym for an organization that purported to be of global importance. Add to that, one of the agents was a Soviet. He would reserve judgement, but he was dubious about this great venture with Alexander Waverly at the helm. Higgins was born a sceptic.

At precisely six o’clock the doorbell rang, prompting the dogs to bark at the intrusion into their peaceful environment. Higgins shushed them with another command and opened the door to a pair of men he imagined would be drummed out of his former military regiment.

“Mr. Higgins?’ A nod preceded introductions.

“I am Napoleon Solo, from the U.N.C.L.E., and this is my associate, Illya Kuryakin.” Illya nodded now, thought he saw a slight sign he recognized as the beginning of disapproval from the Englishman.

“Please, come in... gentlemen. Zeus, Apollo...” Higgins merely pointed at the living room and the two dogs ran ahead of the three men and took their places in front of the fireplace.

The house was immaculate, designed in the eighteenth century for some wealthy family whose primary residence was elsewhere but who required a home in London for certain seasons and occasions.

Higgins had decorated the rooms with a designer’s eye to detail. Napoleon made a mental note to not touch anything unless directed to do so.

Illya was watching the dogs, his irrational fear (although he loathed to use that word), made him choose a seat farthest from the two Dobermans. They watched him intently, sensing as animals will do, that he was a perfect foil for a game of hide and seek.

Higgins took a position between the dogs, resting an elbow on the mantlepiece, which he had lowered in order to accommodate this particular pose. He held a pipe, in the other hand, which served only to remind the two men watching him of their superior back in New York.

“How is that I may assist you, gentlemen? I am at your service.” The line was delivered with slightly less enthusiasm than they would have hoped for. Obviously Higgins was not pleased to be sharing space with another agency. MI6 could be that way, and there were several within that group who were doubly suspicious of Kuryakin. The Profumo scandal had made things awkward for the Russian, and had been one reason he welcomed the transfer to New York.

“Mr. Higgins, first of all we must thank you for meeting with us. MI6 has verified our information concerning this affair, and we are here to coordinate with you as we take down the operation being run by Victor Marten. We were first alerted when one of our agents was targeted by a THRUSH operative name Valerie Higgins.” Napoleon waited for a response of some sort, any sign of recognition from the austere Englishman.

Higgins finally spoke:

“Valerie is my American cousin. Her mother is my father’s sister; she married an American soldier during the war and returned to the states with him afterwards. Their daughter, Valerie, is their eldest child. I had heard through various sources that she was working for THRUSH, I am very sorry to have it confirmed.” Higgins expression never changed although the vocal clues indicated some very real emotions regarding this story.

Napoleon looked at Illya and continued.

“Do you have any idea where we might find her? It is possible that she is not in so deep that we can’t somehow reach her, convince her to leave THRUSH. We are willing to try. Can you help us?”

So that was the reason for this meeting. It was not to call on Higgins’ superior skills or take advantage of his contacts in government and elsewhere. No, it was merely to utilize his relationship with the naughty American girl who shared his lineage.

“I believe she keeps a flat in London, I can give you that address. There is also the family estate where her mother still maintains a household. If she thinks no one knows who she is, she could be in either of these places.” There, it was all he had for them. Higgins felt slightly ashamed to share a name with someone who had taken this disreputable turn.

Illya and Napoleon stood to leave, having taken down the addresses given to them. Higgins suddenly felt deflated, his honor somehow tied to this girl whom he had never met. She was twenty years his junior, another generation not acquainted with the hardships of war or the reality of an organization like THRUSH. Whatever had drawn her into this mess, he felt a responsibility to help get her out of it.

“Gentlemen, may I join you in your search. Valerie is my cousin, and I do feel as though I should do whatever I can to help her. I do not believe she is fully cognizant of the nature of her actions.”

Napoleon recognized the emotion here, the genuine angst of dealing with family issues. But, she had physically accosted Mark when she gave him that shot of drugs that put him down. She had to get close enough for it, which was purposeful. There had to be motive behind her actions to some degree.

“Mr. Higgins, we welcome your presence. However, we will take Valerie in for questioning; we have no other choice in that. We will do everything in our power to make sure she isn’t hurt in any way.”

“Thank you for that. I am confident that we will find a reason for her actions that will satisfy our curiosity concerning her.”

Napoleon shook hands with him, as did Illya, and promised to be in touch before making any move on the girl. Higgins would call his aunt and make some inquiries. The youngest sister of his father, she was only ten years older than he, although distant for many years. Higgins was regretting having let go of his family in order to pursue his career.

Some hours later, the three men arrived at the flat belonging to Valerie Higgins.They saw no signs of THRUSH in the area, felt none of the instinctive warning signs when danger was near.Higgins had brought Zeus and Apollo along, his companions on most of his jaunts about town.For something like this, he knew the lads would come to his rescue if needed, and he meant to stay in once piece if at all possible.

Napoleon knocked on the door and waited.There was a scuffling noise within, and it sounded like more than one person.Napoleon backed up and kicked in the door, allowing all three men to rush into the room.Two men held guns that were aimed at the UNCLE agents and Higgins.One of them also had an arm around the neck of Valerie Higgins as she struggled to get free.

"Stop it or I'll shoot your cousin.Better yet, I'll just kill all of you and be done with it."The voice was brusque, a northern accent if Higgins' judgement was correct (and it generally was). He felt almost relieved to see Valerie in danger, almost as though it meant she wasn't guilty of all he had imagined.

"Valerie, what has happened here?', then he directed his attention to the gunman who held her.

"What do you want? I assure you that the weight of Her Majesty's government is about to fall all around you with great damage to you and your organization."It was bold and mostly correct, although Napoleon and Illya could only hope it didn'tprompt quicker action than they were prepared for.Illya had an explosive device in his suit jacket, a small bit of faux peppermint that was reserved for situations just like this.It would make a small explosion, allowing them to get the drop on the THRUSH gunmen.Or at least that would be the idea of it.

Napoleon smiled before speaking:

"Perhaps you misinterpret our visit here, we merely came to fetch Miss Higgins.What business do you have with her?"He was stalling for time, he knew Illya was moving slowly to avoid detection.

"Miss 'iggins 'ere stole sumtin' from THRUSH and we've come to retrieve it.Ain't that right Ginger?"The smile lacked a tooth, which seemed of no concern to the other fellow, named for the color of his hair.

"Righto matey. We won't mind doin' away wityou fellers as well.Ain't that right, Jocko?"

Higgins had had enough of their silly banter. He yelled out through the open door 'Zeus, Apollo… attack!' to the Dobermans, who came bounding in and jumped upon the THRUSH goons before they had time to realize what was happening.Valerie fell into Napoleon's arms like a damsel in distress, which in actuality she was.

Illya and Higgins dove in after the dogs and disarmed the two assailants while Napoleon held onto Valerie.In spite of her actions, he thought her to be very pretty and possibly not at all a villainess.He would do whatever necessary to find out the truth.

Once satisfied that the danger was past, Zeus and Apollo sat patiently and waited for Higgins to reward him with thanks and a couple of nuggets of something they knew were kept in his left hand trouser pocket.All in all, they were very satisfied with a day's work and work's reward.

Now it was time to find out what in deuce had been going on with his cousin. Higgins took charge of the interrogation, on the spot.

"Valerie, we have never met and I regret that now. Perhaps I could have dissuaded you from ever getting involved with the likes of THRUSH."He was sincere, and she burst into tears at the hint of kindness in his voice.

"Oh Jonathan, I know THRUSH is evil.I didn't mean to ever be in cahoots with them, but they told me that they would kill mother and you if I didn't do what they wanted.I only injected Mark with that drug so that someone would pay attention and come after me." Illya was impressed at her ingenuity while Napoleon wondered that she knew Mark's name.Higgins was just relieved that his cousin was turning out to be an innocent rather than a criminal.

"How do you know Mark Slate?He said he didn't recognize you."Valerie blushed slightly at the question.

"I have seen him here and there, and once THRUSH told me where UNCLE HQ is located, I watched for agents to see who I might contact.I learned Mark's name after he had been in a pub and the owner called him by name.I'm sorry if he was very sick, but I didn't know what else to do.THRUSH found out that I stole the drug and then they were very threatening about …" And she burst into tears, the thought of losing her mother and a cousin she'd never met had been an emotional bombshell for her to endure.

Napoleon let her lean into him as she tried to recover from the outburst.Higgins and Illya both observed the other man's obvious inclination to keep her close and the reciprocal bodyposture from Valerie.

"Well then, that is a better resolution than I had hoped for.Valerie, I spoke with your mother and she is fine, and UNCLE agents are with her now.We have a handle on things and will make certain you and she are safe."As Higgins spoke, the girl looked up at Napoleon with tears still in her bright blue eyes, a bit of butterflies in her stomach.My goodness, he was certainly very handsome.Illya just rolled his eyes at the familiar scene.

It was several days later that Higgins had occasion to meet once more with the men from UNCLE.All details were now known and the individuals involved taken into custody.MI6 would handle them now, considering the threats against British citizens.As for Valerie, she was heading back to the U.S.A., courtesy of a flight on the UNCLE jet.Napoleon promised her a night on the town once back in New York, to help make up for the trauma she had endured.

Illya stayed behind to settle some accounts and follow up the investigation into this strange affair.  THRUSH had hoped to gain intelligence from Higgins as they moved on their plot to keep Valerie a hostage.  It was all dissolved now into a familiar heap, the clean up mostly accomplished.  Illya treated himself to some of his favorite  pub food while in London, and arranged to travel back to New York with Mark, who was almost fully recovered.  The British agent had met Valerie and assured her that she was forgiven.Everyone thought her very clever for having come up with theplan she did, in spite of the discomfort to Mark.

Jonathan Higgins returned to duty with MI6, but something was lacking now that he couldn't quite identify.A vacation to some place warm and tropical seemed like a good idea;perhaps he would make the long awaited trip to Hawaii.

Who knew what adventures he might find in the land of Aloha.

********

## zug·zwang

  _n._

 

A situation in a chess game in which a player is forced to make an undesirable or disadvantageous move.


End file.
